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I think men confuse emotional intimacy for romantic attraction. In female friendships it is commonplace to share feelings, lean on one another for support, cry, laugh, and feel an emotional bond with fellow female friends. When a woman has a friendship with a man, it is therefore natural for her to share her feelings, lean on him for support, as should would any female friend. Men don't often have that emotional intimacy between their other male friends; that is the role a girlfriend often plays. So when he starts opening up to a female friend, displaying his emotional side, he suddenly confuses this for romantic attraction/compatibility, and then gets butthurt when he realizes his female friend was leading him on. She never even knew! The role friendship plays in our lives is different for most men and women. Men often get confused as to why a woman would open up to him if she wasn't interested in him, and when men open up to women they find themselves attached to said woman due to allowing himself to feel vulnerable. Some basic understanding of how each other work would save a lot of hurt feelings. (All gender generalizations aside, here.)

This is an incredibly thorough answer about the mechanics behind the whole "friendzone" feeling. The way I felt about my little girlfriends in high school is exactly the same way I feel about my current best friend, a man almost 8 years older than me. We're able to maintain a fulfilling, platonic relationship because he understands that for women there's a difference between emotional intimacy and romantic attraction. And on my part, I'm aware that displays of affection that seem platonic among female friends have a romantic connotation for men, like snuggling. I used to snuggle under blankets with my girlfriends all the time, and while I would feel comfortable doing that with my male friend, it'd just be odd to him since we're not romantically involved.

Not to mention the people we're respectively dating would be like, "Um... ಠ_ಠ"

I always jurt inside when an old friend of mine touches me to affectionate. It just reminds me of my unrequited feelings for her, and it's come to the point where I am happy she moved across the country, and that we aren't close anymore, because being with her is bitter sweet.

Hmm, perhaps he's just not particularly physically affectionate. Like, we have super nice hugs when meeting/leaving, and there have definitely been some drunken walks home where we're wrapped up trying to keep the other upright, standing by the sink slurping water in our underwear, but yeah. It's cool you have cuddle buddies! I figure true friendship is all about respecting the other people and what everyone expects from the relationship. =)

I think platonic cuddling between people of the opposite sex isn't something that happens very often. That kind of physical intimacy can often lead to romantic feelings especially if both people involved are single, and if they aren't single then their respective SO's may have something to say about it.

I have a number of female friends, but would not cuddle with them. Share a bed or sit close on a crowded couch sure, hugs too, but cuddling is solidly in the sexual camp for me. Outside of my poly friends and their cuddle parties, I'd say that's pretty standard for most of the guys I know.

Physical intimacy like that tends to make me forget the friend part, and only see the woman part(s).

I'm going to guess you're under 21, but maybe I'm wrong. I knew a lot of cuddly friendships in high school and college, but it faded away after that because of either significant other problems or people developing feelings. It just wasn't worth the drama.

Noway. Sharing a bed? Look I don't do with my women friends what I'm not doing with my boys. It's a simple rule. My boys don't sit on my lap and whisper into my ears and nor do my female friends. That's flirtatious. I certainly don't share a damn bed. I have my women friends stay over before and I'll take the damn sofa. Or she will. Just like if one of the guys stayed over late. He ain't creeping into the bed with me so why would she?

Nah dude you gotta have friends as friends and leave it as that. Or you're putting you in this supposed zone

What zone? I hooked up with a group from the college I graduated from last weekend. The trip gave them all hotel rooms but I didn't wanna pay for my own so I crashed in a bed with two girls I'm friends with. I can't help cuddling if someone's next to me at night.

It's not like an all the time thing, if they stayed at my place I've got a futon and they do as well. No need to make things weird when theres space issues though.

I was also in a room drinking with 7 other people and we were all on the 2 beds. So one girl was laying half on me. Everyone in that group is comfortable with each other though, so it's not really weird. No one is leading anyone on.

It does. We shared beds in hotels before and I'm cuddling with whoever is there. It's why I prefer to share a bed with a girl, tbh.
But it happens. If it's guys within this particular group no one really bats an eye.